Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1887-05-19

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Rev. DR.. DsTlinRer. President Of The
ROYAL Microscopes Soeiefy, recently de-
liversd "a address, IN which be described
q ssries Of experiments which be hiss
eonduGted for neaKiy ten pafisnt ana
faithf1l yeaEs bis proiecs wAs 70 pace
and keen under bis isns several vaFtsites
Of thee minute ruonads which are in
cessantiy mulfipiying b. assure OF divl-
tom Of animated nature.
The Reuerasi0ns Of these creatures
succeed each other about every fsug
inmates; % that IN an hour be can vfeV
the passage Of fourteen or fifteen RsoeF-
atians, which W01ld answer TO some
thing like $50 years Of human history,
while dsy Of monaaie existence Woaio
represent more than 1880 OF cur yeeFA
These moDads live IN water, and By con-
Meeting the drop that serves them for .
hasitAbls and roomy ocean vita an m
eenisas apparatus the temperature Of
this drop can Be kept either constant or
raised very slowly, and with absolutely
steady precision. To carry oua 90 very
delicate en- investigation, however, u
wooId have 10 be prolonged fog months,
and even years, in order 10 initiate the
immense delibersiion With which Ma
herself accomplishes every substantial
change in her highfss productions
Night and day, winter and summer, the
patient eszs must be kept 6xed on
those merest speeks Of silveFy life which
had t. be n1rsed int n y conditions
Of existenoe. TIE slightest accident TO
the apparatus might IN enc msment
render the whole experiment. void, and
leave the drop Of wafer as lifeless a.
these islands would be IL another glacial
period suddenly arrived.
TIE only reward, on the other hand,
for sueossafuI and almost inconoeivable
perseverance, woald be tbs discovery Of
truth and the reinforcement Of Oar
wins sublime generalization. Bot, for
the sake Of these, which always satisfy
the noble aTd0F Of science. DR.. Dallineer
has given as many gears Of bis life as
vas spsut By tbs Greeks In the siege of
Troy, and has apparently won q scien-
tine victory, the vaiae of which IL as
signal as bic ingenuity and devotion
are admirable.
We will endeavoF briefly to describe
the method akd the outcome Of his most
remarkable experiments. The group of
microscopic monads were pot updeR
the lens IN q we'll fitted water cell at
their usual temperature Of 60 degrees
Fahrenbeit. the apartment, the sppara-
tus, and all aEound being carefully kept
In precise unison. The doctor then
spent the first four months of bis Obser-
walton in raising the temperature time
after time By stages Of less than 1-6 Of q
degree until bis swarm Of protozoa had
reached the new and advanced reading
Of 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
The change, nevertheless, had no
more disturbed them than that expert.
enced by q British family when il
migFates from London to Capetown; the
life history Of each group remained IN
altered; they moved, gyrated, fed and
split themselves into new individuals In
Just the same manner and within much
the same periods as before. When,
however, three more degrees had been
added to the seventy, the monadI
showed signs Of being decidedly moon
venisnced. They we're neither as livelJ
or as productive as formerly; yet. by
keeping them exactly at this range dur,
| ing two quiet months they regainec
their full YigoF, aud might be compared
| to emiRsants who had become seasoned
by Surviving the FIRST hot spell in trop
ical country. They could now stand
by gradual steps Of increase-the sn
hAnced heat OF seventy eight degrees
which was reached at the commence
ment of the twelfth month.
Yet here, again, long pause wal
found to be necessary; the new genera
tions Of those silver specks of life undel
the glass we're not all alike stTonI
enough to I've and thrive. What an
Svers to sunstroke among Us had caused
vacant spaces to appear in the watel
drop, and IL was only when the m0nadl
showed themselves once more lively anC
prolific by long era Of repose that tn,
careful doctor administered furthel
dose Of caloFic.
During sight years and a half did ht
thus slowly and unweaFiedly pFoceed il
the same coarse. augmentin0 the hea
Of their surrounding element now anC
then by slow and slight additions, pans
ing AfterwaFd for months to give thu
minute creatures time to accommodate
themselves when signs we're visible thai
they we're under difficulties, and always
going forward TO new trials of eDdu
rance when they had recovered. II
this manner. after all those years, DR.
Dallin2er brought bis small patients tC
tbs astonishing range of 158 degrees
Fahrenheit, at which the latest genera
tioH appeared ''as jolly as sand boys"
IL IL not possible to say hsw much far.
thsf their tiny constitution could have
been trained to defy increasing warmth
because the research was at this point
accidentally terminated ;bbnt 1t will be
seen that the doctor had brought the
little people Of his drop world to sustain
a heat nearly one hundred degrees high.
er than the aourishing point OF their
ancestors, and species Of which. II
taken at the beginning, would have been
completely and instantaneously killed
in water of 40 degrees.
When We have added that these
minute salamanders persisted directly
they we're put back into their ancestral
medium Of sixty five degrees il will be
manifest thai the indefatiRable doctor
had, by the mag e Of science, Effected q
miracle Of nature.